Our Illustrations.

Patea Mail, 31 August 1881, Page 1 (Supplement)

Our Illustrations.

■MB: CHARLES STEWARTS PARNELL.

The subject of our illustration is Mr. C. S. Parnell/whose name is now very prominent in connection with the State trials in Ireland. Mr. Parnell was bom in 1846, and is, therefore, about thirty-four years of age. He is the eldest surviving son of the late Mr. J. H. Parnell, of Avondale, who was High Sheriff of County Wicklow, in 1836. His mother is an American lady, and daughter of Admiral Stewart of the United States Navy. Mr. Parnell was educated at Magdalen College, Cambridge. He is county magistrate, and was High Sheriff, of Wicklow in 1874; in 1875 he was elected for Meath, and at the recent general election he was returned for three constituencies, Meath, and Cork. He now sits for the latter constituency. He is also president, and one of the most prominent members, of the Irish National Land League. Mr. Parnell is a man of singularly mild and gracious manners in private life, but one’s eyes are constantly directed inquiringly t© the cold and bloodless face in the endeavour to reconcile the frigid exterior with the courtesy of the lips. The Illustrated London News thus writes of Mr. Parnell:—“Mr. Parnell, the professed enemy of Irish landlords, himself belongs to ■ that class. His property is situate at Avondale, in the heart of Wicklow, and consists of 4678 statute acres, valued in the Government returns for 1873 at £1245 annually. The mansion of Avondale was built in 1779, and here the Parnell family have resided ahundred years past. The estate is bounded on the north by the Avonmore river, and on the south by the Avonbeg, and extends to where these waters —immortalised by Moore—meet in the Vale of Avoca. There are about thirty tenants on the Avondale estate, with holdings varying in extent from four acres upwards. Mr. Parnell, besides, has erected a saw-mill and turnery on his property, and for years past he has been making borings for lead, and in his latest attempt he has succeeded in striking the lode. A correspondent of a London Conservative paper says:— * I visited tenants at eight different points of the Parnell estate. Of these I found that two owed over three years’ rent and two over one year. One possessed a lease for ever, two held leases for 200 years each, and three leases for thirty-one years each. In one or two instances the rents were above the Government valuation, but they were mostly below it. Every tenant, in addition, has been receiving a reduction of 20 per cent, of the rent for some time past, and the tenants informed me that since the death of Mr. Parnell’s father, in 1858, the rents have in several cases been permanently reduced. The Avonmore property is in settlement. New leases can be granted only for thirty-one years, and no fine can be taken on their renewal.’ He also gives a favourable account of the condition of the workpeople employed in Mr. Parnell’s sawmill. The men and youths at work were, a few years ago, ordinary farm labourers. They all seemed exceedingly active and skilful; their industry is stimulated by a rate of wages increasing by a certain amount each year, with piece-work rates in very busy times.”